


o, miss fortune

by creabimus



Category: RWBY
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Volume 4 (RWBY)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-12-19 06:34:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11892069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creabimus/pseuds/creabimus
Summary: When no one is looking, Ruby coughs up rose petals.





	o, miss fortune

When no one is looking, Ruby coughs up rose petals.

She can feel them lodged in her throat like a stubborn wad of gum that refuses to leave her esophagus. They tickle like feathers, but when they come up they burn her throat. After passing her lips, the petals drift away with the wind to become another small part of a nature. 

It begins when she wakes up in her bed after Beacon’s fall, after Qrow talks to her. She coughs once, twice, three times, but the molten lava in her throat is not molten lava at all but red rose petals. Ruby lets them drift in the wind, among the snow, and watches the ruby patches swirl in spirals. Her chest aches even more. 

Jaune doesn’t notice. She doesn’t expect him or anyone to, but her eyes still fall when his back turns. He asks about Pyrrha. His eyes water. Her arms wrap around his frame (thin, but building muscle), and she tells him about the times she and Pyrrha trained, or talked. He thanks her and gives her a slight smile. His eyes search her face, but the proceeding words never come out. 

(”Ruby,” Jaune will begin, later, after the pieces fall into place, but she will interrupt him. 

“I’m fine, Jaune,” and she grins from ear to ear. He frowns and remains silent, offering her a hug she will decline.)

Ren and Nora might notice, but neither of them say anything to Ruby. Nora stops her from taking watch duties for a week after Ruby wakes up in the middle of the night panicked. Ren gives her the baskets of strawberries he finds in markets, and he smiles when her face lights up. When Ruby tries to return the favors, Ren assures her she doesn’t have to. When she asks why, he says to see her smile (and she blushes and splutters at that, so Nora laughs and ruffles her hair). 

The rose petals liquify in those moments, and Ruby can breathe again. 


End file.
